Enter your email and password to access secured content, members only resources and discount prices.
Did you become a member online? If not, you will need to activate your account to login.
If you are having problems logging in, please call HIA helpdesk on 1300 650 620 during business hours.
If you are having problems logging in, please call HIA helpdesk on 1300 650 620 during business hours.
Enables quick and easy registration for future events or learning and grants access to expert advice and valuable resources.
Enter your details below and create a login
“By bringing the cash rate target from its emergency policy setting of 0.1 per cent in May to the new setting of 2.35 per cent, the RBA has undertaken its sharpest hiking cycle in almost 30 years,” added Mr Devitt.
“The RBA’s intention is to bring Australian inflation back to its 2-3 per cent target. But the nature of the current cycle means the RBA risks pushing the cash rate too high.
“At the start of this tightening cycle there was a record volume of building work underway and a significant volume of work still to commence construction. This is providing the building industry and the wider economy with a buffer against the full impacts of these rate increases.
“In a typical cycle the lag from an increase in the cash rate to a slowing in home building could be as little as six months, but in this cycle, the lag will be more than 12 months.
“In July, new home sales declined by 13.1 per cent and home lending declined for all market segments – renovators, investors and owner occupiers, including first home buyers.
“The significant pipeline of work still to complete heading into this cycle will ensure building activity and demand for skilled trades remains exceptionally strong through the rest of 2022 and into 2023.
“However, the rise in the cash rate is compounding the impact of the rapid increase in the cost of building a new home that occurred due to the constraints on global supply chains.
The rising cost of construction would, by itself, have slowed building activity.
“It will not be until mid-2023 that the effects of the first rise in the cash rate adversely impact the volume of work on the ground. Subsequent increases in the cash rate will have exacerbated this slow down.
“With long lead times in this current cycle there is a greater risk that the impact on unemployment of a rapid rise in the cash rate will be obscured and that the RBA will overshoot with unnecessary rate increases,” concluded Mr Devitt.
“The RBA decision to keep interest rates in restrictive territory today will not stop the improvement in leading indicators of future home building,” stated HIA Senior Economist Tom Devitt.
In mid-June 2025, the NSW Premier released the Housing and Productivity Contribution (HPC) Works-in-Kind Guideline for public consultation.
Today the State Government announced proposed changes to the regulatory powers to investigate registered builders who may be unable to meet the financial requirements of registration. The announcement also included a long-awaited review of the Home Building Contracts Act 1991 (HBCA) and associated laws.
Housing Industry Association welcomes today’s announcement by the Cook Labor Government to review key aspects of the home building contracts legislation and provide the building regulator with additional powers to work with builders in distress.